Sara Ross

Dear Work

Does your relationship with work need to change? It did for Sara Ross as she looked at the part it played in her life, and decided to do things differently. Dear Work started as a letter and grew into a book, one that helps us all rethink success, vitality and stress, as we discover our spark and purpose! A message for our time, our creative team brought Sara Ross’ vision and advice to life in this whiteboard animation book trailer!

The Brief

A clear brief is everything when it comes to making a great explainer animation and working with Sara, this is exactly what we had! Creating this book trailer, it was essential that Sara’s sincerity and authenticity took centre stage as we connected with viewers at a deep emotional level. To do this we had to paint a clear and highly relatable picture of the struggles people face in their jobs, one that resonated and moved them so much that they were inspired to buy Sara’s book. No mean feat, but our team and the whiteboard animation technique were ready to make this brief a reality! 

The Explainer Video

Our explainer animation placed Sara at the video’s heart. Not only was Sara a character, Sara also recorded with the voiceover. This, combined with a script written as a letter, gave our film an emotive connection that reached out to viewers and instantly connected with their experiences. Balance was key, and our explainer video also recognised the positives work brings when it is going well. 

A strong voiceover and narrative needs strong visual storytelling to engage viewers and bring the key points to life, and this is exactly what our creative team did. A charming and sincere illustration style created a recognisable onscreen world, taking people on a journey while emphasising the voiceover and showing what work should and shouldn’t be. Using the word 'work’ as a set piece, our visual thinking and storytelling made Sara’s points vivid and striking, from positives such purpose being embodied by a compass, to negatives like work taking over our lives being shown as Sara’s character being locked behind bars. 

After visualising the pain points people experience in their jobs, the narrative moved to it’s third act, ask searching questions like, ‘is this what I want my life to be?’ These were a perfect set-up for Sara’s closing line ‘something has to change’, which coincided with the call to action. The result was an audience heavily invested in the explainer video’s message, with a clear view of the problems and Sara’s solution. 

The client

Sara Ross is a keynote speaker who has delivered talks for organisations such as Microsoft, PepsiCo., and FedEx. Sara is also the Chief Vitality Officer at her leadership research firm BrainAmpted. She is on a mission to redefine leaders and their staff bring find their spark again at work and at home.

The context

Find out more about Sara and her book Dear Work here.